Sanford Schullister
'''Sanford Frederick "Sandy" Schullister, '''born '''Frederich "Keine Fritz" Michael Schullister '''is a character portrayed by ZeMeeM. He appears at EOE, although rarely, in the form of a fighter escort pilot and ground attack pilot. Early biography Sandy Schullister was born into a German Jewish family in Bremen, Bremen, Germany on March 26, 1920. His mother worked as a businesswoman and his father a merchant. His only brother was Gabriel Schullister, born in 1922, shortly before the family emigrated to Manhattan, New York. In Manhattan, the family changed their first names to Americanize themselves. Sanford, AKA Sandy became Frederich's new name. He was given religious tutoring and was raised in German rather than Yiddish, but grew to speak fluent English quickly. With the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, his whole life was changed. His parents could not afford to fund his dreams of becoming an engineer, and out of pure desperation, Sandy was forced to become a janitor at age 15. He remained a janitor until 1942. Military service Growing more and more fascinated with the Army Air Corps before the war, Sandy enlisted in the Army Air Corps on January 17, 1942. He completed training in the summer of 1942 and served as a B-17 Flying Fortress Radioman until his unit commander noticed potential for a fighter pilot in him. He was transferred to the newly formed 366th Fighter Group, flying a P-47 Thunderbolt at the rank of Sergeant as a wingman for his future friend, drinking partner and affiliate, Captain Ralph "Chirp" Fitch (a character also portrayed by ZeMeeM). He first saw service on April 16, 1943, in which he scored his first two kills and confirmed his fighter pilot potential, surviving in the face of multiple German aces who damaged his P-47 so badly that Sandy could barely retreat to England after the dogfight; when he landed, his engine quit on him and his landing gear were broke. The P-47 was repaired miraculously and he used the same P-47 until the war's end. He had coincidentially been dogfighting German aces for most of the war, and racked up 7 kills by the end of 1943. In February of 1944 he was promoted to First Lieutenant and detatched from Captain Fitch's wing, forming the lead of his own wing. He continued to dogfight against German aces, and gained a reputation for shooting down aces. German fighter pilots nicknamed him "Turncoat Fritz"; Sandy adopted the nickname by painting the words "Turncoat Fritz" in German onto his P-47. At the end of 1944 he had 19 kills from his service in 1943 and 1944 combined. He made his last 4 kills on January 1, 1945 near Asch, Belgium. By war's end him and his wingman Henry A. "Andy" Koczinski had a total of 30 victories, with Schullister being attributed to 23 victories and Koczinski being attributed to 7 victories. Schullister was transferred to Okinawa following V-E Day, after which Koczinski retired. Sandy's younger brother, Gabriel, was mortally wounded at Okinawa, where Sandy was to serve for the remainder of the war. In his obituary, Gabriel told Sandy to fight until the war ended, and entitled Sandy his bank account and pay by the government. Sandy flew ground attack missions until war's end. He retired on November 11, 1945 and arrived in Manhattan via civilian airliner on December 16, 1945. Post-war life Sandy returned to the US along with Captain Fitch in 1945. Fitch remained in service, being stationed as a combat instructor and flight tactician at West Point, New York. Schullister purchased his P-47 from the government and began working as an airplane mechanic after the war, working on civilian airliners. He moved into a community on Staten Island, New York. The neighborhood he moved into was filled with veterans whose experience ranged from the Spanish-American War to WW2. He met up with an old friend, also working as a mechanic, who employed him. Sandy managed to make enough money to maintain care of his P-47 and keep it in pristine quality, later entitling it to his future son. He met his future spouse, a former WAAC Engineer, while travelling the country. The two of them had 3 children: Simon, Andrew, and James. Simon was entitled to Sandy's P-47 by being Sandy's oldest son for one thing and the aircraft's best caretaker aside from Sandy for another. Sandy was able to pay for his father's return to Bremen, and his mother had died of leukemia in 1948 following work at a naval shipyard in California during the Second World War. With a brother who had died a war hero, a deceased mother and a father who had moved across the ocean, Sandy began starting a life from the ground up. He would lead a happy, satisfied life, earning enough money to raise all 3 of his children. He died of age-related organ failure on January 2, 2018. Category:Characters